


Such Beautiful Soil

by mpo9



Series: The Artist, the Mage, and the Aikido Master [1]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Bonding, Fluff, Gen, Implied Chabashira Tenko & Yonaga Angie & Yumeno Himiko, Implied Relationships, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Nature, One Shot, Other, Post-Canon, Post-New Dangan Ronpa V3, Walking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-11
Updated: 2019-05-11
Packaged: 2020-02-29 20:09:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18785326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mpo9/pseuds/mpo9
Summary: While walking inside Yosemite Valley on Himiko's request, Tenko couldn't help but to prod Angie. She didn't expect her to let some things inside of her actually spill out.





	Such Beautiful Soil

Angie kept on wearing that eternal smile of hers. Her companion, Tenko, never could get used to it. Being in a sort of conflict during the events that transpired, Tenko (after a long recovering time) sort of considered Angie as a dartboard for her own Philosophy. Tenko has kept her mentality and Aikido with her, and Angie was the keychain on her suitcase that gets dragged along with her.

However, she can’t just not stop thinking about her, and not due to any feelings (which the idea that she does always swirl in her mind). Angie is _strange_ , strange even for the standards of the other victims. While recovering, she couldn’t help but to notice how _exotic_ she looked compared to the others, it’s almost offensive to her eyes. Even Himiko’s pointy hat and showy appearance doesn’t hold a finger to the contrast of dark skin on a bright yellow smock, with a high school symbol that contrasted in its modernity compared to the more traditional ones. Tenko hasn’t seen Angie wear that sort of revealing clothing in a long time, but Angie’s Yellow Sweatshirt and White Sweatpants certainly tell that the aesthetics of her are engraved in her mind, or at least that what she thinks things _should_ work in that artist’s head.

“Do you like it?” said Tenko, trying to break the silence that engulfed the pair as they walked a path full of dirt, twigs, and small rocks, a large cliff side looming to their north east. 

“Angie likes what?” chirped the painter. Tenko had to instantly stop herself from cursing, but _of course_ Angie wouldn’t put two and two together, all with that smile. She started to also think of bad things in her annoyance, like if she smiled when he slammed the...

Her sickening thought process was quickly suffocated, thanks to a therapist’s exercises, and luckily, she was in a situation where there was a lot of things to focus on before Angie’s insistence chimed in. “Angie likes _what_ , Tenko?” she craned into her eyesight as she trod thru the path like a tin soldier.

“Well, the sights, the air?” insisted Tenko, spinning around to spotlight the scenery among them. They were very lucky to be able to get into this sort of place. If it wasn’t for Himiko’s goodwill and the fact she has done so many trips to the United States of America to have enough of a vested interest in the country to wait at obscene times to try for a chance to get a single spot at one of their National Parks (“Yosh-semi-tee?” said the clueless girl when the Magician announced the trip), they would not have

Angie looked up and nodded, her hands stuffed into her sweatshirt. “Yes! Angie really likes this view!” she said, as they slowly come across a road, and started to follow it by the side.

It took Tenko a while to even accept doing this walk with Angie, but Himiko insisted the two of them do something without her, and even went as far as to grant the two maps that’ll allow them to navigate from one part of the grand valley to the other, and then take a Bus back to the Lodge (cost and hassle made Himiko decide against renting a RV or just camping out, to Angie’s disappointment).

It was only when the girl was at the corner of her eye did Tenko knew that she was falling behind her. Slightly panicking, she jogged a bit up to her, and no longer trailed behind for that day. The small talk was excruciating for Tenko, and she couldn’t tolerate not knowing what’s behind that pale white curtain Angie calls hair.

"Angie, what do you _think?_ Tenko means, not about the birds or the trees, or the view, but what goes on inside of, you?” She said. Tenko might be good at grasping emotions, but that’s useless with the person of interest seems to have only two settings: “happy” or “dead”. If she didn’t make a concerted effort to not think about where they met, Tenko would’ve wished she slammed Angie to the ground out of curiosity

The lemon-dressed girl didn’t paused or turn to process this deep (and offensive) remark. “Angie thinks about the sky, and the ground, and the things around me, and of course, God!” she said. Tenko wanted to punch herself. What did she expect her to say? Probably some grandiose, facade-shattering breakdown moment as Angie collapses to Tenko’s feet, expelling some sort of torrent of emotions...

She then started to get mad at herself for thinking such rude things. It's not right to do that. Plus, the game has been long behind them. 

However, she couldn't need to get  _Angie_ behind her. Out of the things she's kept with her since the 53rd Season, her conflict with Angie is something she wish she didn't bring. It was the perfect storm: Too big for her to forget by herself, but too small for therapy to target, not that it was an issue for them. It was simply a clash of ideologies.

Tenko decides to just get to the point. “Don’t you think this whole God thing might not be real? Do you ever question your beliefs? Can you? Can you?” Tenko started to fire at Angie, accusatory bullets flying out of her chamber at the Artist. Angie then stopped in response, and stood there silently gazing at Tenko. She seemed to have simply absorbed every last one of these words into the blackness of her pupils, the eerie acceptance of this aggression unnerving Tenko enough to stop the assault out of guilt. Tenko didn’t need to speak up about this; she knows any forgiveness has already been given in the past second, and Angie nodded to confirm her suspicions. They both stood at each other, as if waiting for one of them, or some third party to break the awkward silence, before Angie silently volunteers to fix the problem.

“Angie thinks that we are all blessed with the ability to do as we desire.” She started to deliver, her accent jagging out from the unusually slow speaking as she started to engage Tenko, walking backward and moving her shoulders, gesturing the Neo-Aikido master to continue to walk with her, as they past by a cliff. “Even Angie has that power, Tenko.” she said, leaning in as if she divulged a wondrous secret.

“Tenko doesn’t think you really do. You seem to just go with what your ‘god’ says, here and there, and they just always seem to go the way you desire” She admitted. “Comparing 'Angie' and 'God' seems to be like comparing 'Tenko' and 'Chabashira'. How would Tenko know that you really have this divine presence."  The morning sun trickled thru the trees, covering the girls in patches of light.

Angie didn’t instantly say anything, as she places her index to the bottom of her lip, before returning a reply to Tenko. “Angie think she can tell you something, Tenko.”, the earnest nature in her voice grabbing Tenko’s attention. “Angie, doesn’t know either.” she said, as her smile became a cheshire grin to a small one, seemly only there by habit of always having some type of one on her face.

Tenko raised an eyebrow. “Is that going to be your excuse?” she said, slightly raising the pace of her walk to get slightly in front of Angie, an accusation on-the-go.

“Angie believes that back than, here, and now, things get mixed up, like on the shopping site.” Tenko squinted a bit at Angie’s attempt to do a lighthearted comparison thru the walk, but she realized that this is the first time the shiny yellow wrapper is peeling off, and she’ll be _dumb_ if she let this chance go away. “When Angie’s brain gets a thought, I think about it. Is it God? Is it Angie? People talk about Prophets and how they get the craziest ideas, but Angie wasn’t told that there’s no way to see what ideas are from Angie and what are from God.” she said, innocently catching up to Tenko to keep them as equal.

Tenko glanced down for a moment, before turning back to her. “Does that bother you?” she inquired, waiting for a slew of cars to pass by before crossing the road.

Angie hummed to herself what Tenko can only assume to be a traditional song, before she just nods back in confirmation. Tenko couldn’t really figure out what’s the right thing to bring up to respond to her, so she just shakes her head to distance herself from her further questions as the traffic subsided, allowing them to cross the road, now walking on the riverside. “Angie thinks _she_ wants to ask you a question.”, she announces, a sharp inflection on the word “she”.

Tenko didn’t stop walking, but she turned to talk to the girl properly. “Go ahead.” she retorted.

Angie took a while to ask (with Tenko unsure if it’s due to the question, or the Artist processing what the slang meant), but she finally drew it out of her tongue. “Why are you so into ‘Angie’, Tenko? Usually, when people don’t like Angie, they just shake their heads, and walk away, if they don’t, get in my face, or...” Angie shook her head, "Angie isn't like Shuichi, or Kaede, or Kokichi. Angie was not meant to be a star. Angie was meant to be in the sidelines. Sometimes, when Angie stays up at night, Angie lets it all get into her head. Did God place Angie on this earth just to help Himiko?" 

Tenko was going to deny it, but Angie kept going. "Angie looked herself up on the internet. Shuichi told her not to do it, but she did it anyways. The world might have decided to stop Danganronpa, but the world didn't stop talking about it. People on the Internet hated Angie. Some of them wanted to exercise with Angie, but mostly, they just wanted to hurt Angie.". Tenko was unnerved by the causal mentions of threats to her. Tenko herself decided not to actively search it up, in fear of what would pop up, but she knew that she wasn't the only one who didn't like Angie, but outside of the context of the game, Angie wasn't someone who had any legitimate reasons. She was doomed by fate to never succeed, to not have any chance of stopping the chaos. "Angie knows that everyone has the ability to choose to hurt Angie." she said, continuing to smile as if she said anything else.

“Tenko, doesn’t want to hurt you!” she yelled, as if defending her life. “Tenko just doesn’t understand why you’re so into your God, or why you did the things you did! Tenko wanted to know why you always keep that smile. Tenko wanted to understand you, Angie, **understand!** ” she shouts in frustration, as the stretches of the valley started to appear in front of them.

  Angie nodded. “Oh.”, she smiled back. However, this time Tenko felt like this was a different smile behind the scenes, even though it looked the same in the front. “Tenko?” the islander said, in a twinge of shyness.

  “Mm?”

  As the two began to leave the trees, they started to cross over the valley. It would not be long before they reach the other side, and a nearby bus stop.

  “Angie thinks you care. Angie didn’t think so during it, but Angie now knows you really really care for her, and worry for her.” she said, her eyes slightly starting to shimmer with teariness. Tenko worried for a brief millisecond that her eyes might not be able to handle tears after a drought. Soon, Angie found her shoulder being wrapped by a caring arm, Tenko nudging against the other one. "Not many people seem to disagree with Angie. Angie does what Angie does, and people just follow her. When someone doesn't, I feel like they're truly ones who have chosen a path for themselves.

  “Tenko is glad you think that...” she whispers. The embarrassment of the last sentence countered the joy of finally being able to understand the girl, forcing her to separate herself.

  “Angie isn’t sure how much of this whole God thing is real, anyways.” she also says, “Angie just feels some sort of, thing inside of her, and she just has faith, faith in what she believes.” She looked down at the ground, kicking it, before she looks up. “Even if that meant...”

  “Don’t say anything, Angie. It’s over now, the...” Tenko tried to stop herself. She tried to do the mental exercises, but the memory has already become too real as she started to tear up. She couldn’t help but to remember the deaths before her, and the moments leading up to her own. The sickle gave an instant of pain before Tenko “died”, not by a fight, but in pure darkness, only alerted by some strange creaks in the floorboard. She might’ve hated herself for a long time after if she didn’t realize that by placing herself in the seance, she saved Himiko. 

In a pacifistic version of her talent, she quickly wrapped her arms around the artist. The smile didn’t fully go away, but Angie’s eyes widened, which gave Tenko enough of a reason to know that both of them needed the embrace. It did not take long to feel the same pressure around her from Angie, nails slightly digging into her coat.

“It’s fine, fine...” Angie finished, her smile dipping into a neutral position, before rebounding back. Tenko didn’t need to ask about it, nor did want to regardless. She was about to continue speaking about it, before Angie placed her hand on the cheek.

Tenko finally noticed two mirrored lines on her friend, revealed by the arisen sun. Angie quickly nudged Tenko a bit more to look down the valley. “Let us pause. God would not want us to mourn on such beautiful soil.”

Tenko nodded, standing back, taking in the stark grass, noble trees, and the horizon ahead of the two. Absorbent in her perception, it took a delicate pressure on her hand to realize the world directly around her.

“Angie thinks we should go, together. Himiko is waiting for us at the Lodge, and she’s probably going to be mad if we miss what she has in store!” she cooed as she used her sleeve to wipe both of their tears off. “Let’s enjoy this wonderful world!” she said, tugging Tenko forward (even though Tenko was the wielder of the map). Tenko simply corrected themselves to be at equals, ready to resume their vacation.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading this. This is my first fanfiction, and also my first time writing any dialogue for Tenko and Angie. I really do like the two a lot, and I feel like that Angie in particular needs a bit more love. There seems to be a lot of things that involve her, but many times, I feel like it goes in a similar direction. I feel like it's unfair to the character for her to just get one point of view, so I wanted to write something that had her show some more emotion, but not outright change tracks. Personally, I do feel like there's some flaws, but I do congratulate myself for even being able to finish something, even if it's about 2K words.


End file.
